New Year’s Resolutions 2016 Every year I resolve to change my habits, my priorities, my perspective... They all sound so good and acheivable in December. I just can’t explain what happens when January hits. II will no longer allow my son to charge me IT support fees when I ask him to show me how to do something on my phone.
I’m going to glue all phone chargers into the wall sockets so they stop disappearing.
I will take advantage of those times I walk into a room and forget while I’m there as little breaks in my day.
I will stop asking the orthodontist if there is a special locking feature for my daughter’s braces for those high diva attitude days. (Don’t judge… you know you’ve wondered the same thing….)
I will use more words and less emojis. Starting now. I will convince my kids that the commercial with Europe singing The Final Countdown is AWESOME. I will stop checking Facebook to see who is awake in my house each morning. I resolve to stop wearing spandex clothing. It scares my kids. OR, because it does scare my kids, maybe I’ll wear it MORE.
Many people on the Autism spectrum prefer to have things "exactly so" and put away in order, in the correct place. I will not spend so much time wishing my son developed these habits. I will stop my writing and social media campaign to the manufacturers of all things gummy – gummy candies, gummy vitamins, etc., to stop making the yucky yellow and green ones. I will stop sending out eblasts (which generate hundreds of beeping notifications to my cell phone from the autoreplies) minutes before I am about to get on a conference call via bluetooth.
I will ignore people that insist my son needs a haircut. His Einstein inspired hairdo doesn’t make my radar for things I need to worry about.
I will stop telling my children that by law, the job of mom ends at 8pm each day.
I resolve to stop going to the mall during the most crowded shopping times, parking, and putting on my reverse lights just to mess with people.
This will be the year I demand the kids actually get up and move around. So I will stop using my son’s drone to deliver their dinners to them in the next room.
I will resist the urge to cook food on my car’s dashboard when the temperatures spike just because they do it on TV.
I will stop loudly declaring, “I’m like a ninja turtle!!” at the gym.
I will stop making “that face.” You know, “that face.” I will stop showing my age to my younger colleagues by referencing old movies they have never heard of. I will stop questioning why paper plates are taped to all of my windows. This will be the year I learn from past mistakes of violently shaking the shampoo bottle to get the very last drop, causing me to crack my elbow on the soap dish.
I will make every attempt to appreciate that my dislike of my daughter’s music choice is probably much like the way my parents felt about my love for 80s hair bands. However, it still doesn’t mean I have to let her play it in my car. I will stop asking my co-workers, “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” every time I need something. Written by Shelly Allred, Director of Communications, Pathfinders for Autism © 2015 Pathfinders for Autism
I will stop responding to rude people with the phrase, “I know you are, but what am I?” I will remind myself and others the annoying things my son does have NOTHING to do with autism and EVERYTHING to do with him being a teenager. I will not stand at a rest room sink for an inordinate amount of time waiting for water before finally realizing it’s not an automatic faucet.
Merritt Properties is a proud sponsor of the Pathfinders for Autism Resource Center.
Pathfinders for Autism 303 International Circle Suite 110 Hunt Valley, MD 21030 443.330.5370 www.pathfindersforautism.org
